Payment cards such as credit or debit cards are ubiquitous. For decades, such cards have included a magnetic stripe on which the relevant account number is stored. To consummate a purchase transaction with such a card, the card is swiped through a magnetic stripe reader that is part of a point of sale (POS) terminal. The reader reads the account number from the magnetic stripe. The account number is then used to route a transaction authorization request that is initiated by the POS terminal.
In pursuit of still greater convenience and more rapid transactions at POS terminals, payment cards have more recently been developed that allow the account number to be automatically read from the card by radio frequency communication between the card and a so-called “proximity reader” which may be incorporated with the POS terminal. In such cards, often referred to as “proximity payment cards” or “contactless payment cards”, a radio frequency identification (RFID) integrated circuit (IC, often referred to as a “chip”) is embedded in the card body. A suitable antenna is also embedded in the card body and is connected to the RFID chip to allow the chip to receive and transmit data by RF communication via the antenna. In typical arrangements, the RFID chip is powered from an interrogation signal that is transmitted by the proximity reader and received by the card antenna.
MasterCard International Incorporated, the assignee hereof, has established a widely-used standard, known as PayPass™, for interoperability of proximity payment cards and proximity readers. Other proximity payment schemes are also increasingly in use.
It has been proposed that the capabilities of a contactless payment card be incorporated into a mobile telephone, thereby turning the mobile telephone into a contactless payment device. These devices are referred to herein as near-field communication (“NFC”) handsets or NFC mobile devices.
Currently, there is significant effort and cost required for financial institutions that issue financial accounts to consumers (“issuers”) to start issuing their financial accounts (such as credit card and debit card accounts) on NFC handsets. The effort, complexity and cost to develop systems necessary for deploying issuer financial accounts to a mobile device are significant entry barriers for many issuers. Many issuers simply desire to gain some experience with such a new form factor before committing to the high cost and effort of a full commercial roll out. Also, some issuers are seeking low initial entry costs and low effort because the number of NFC handset financial accounts may be very low for the foreseeable future. It would therefore be desirable to provide an intermediate solution for issuers that is cost effective and relatively quick for deploying payment accounts for NFC devices so that the issuers need not make an immediate large money and time commitment to invest in the systems that ultimately will be required.